6U Flag Football Coach and "Play to Win" mentality...

[Randy Marsh]

When I was a younger man I coached little league baseball, I made a deal with every kid on the team, You make it to practice you will play, I obviously started the better kids but every kid got at least 2 innings in the field and at least one at bat. It pissed off some of the parents of the “better” players at first but I must say almost all of them came around to understand that I was trying to make it fun for all the kids and not just their kids.
I will say it’s a totally different world now and I doubt I would have the same success.

I coached a 9U AAA team that is likely moving to majors this upcoming year at 10U. We typically have 11 or 12 kids, every kid sits once before anyone sits twice. No kid has a set position on our team because how can you tell a 9 year old is a 2B only at this point? Each kid has at least two infield positions, plus outfield and then 4 or 5 can catch. Each kid pitched at least a handful of innings and the ones that pitched less often are pitching more in fall to develop their skills and looking good.

Our group doesn’t have tryouts or any of that stuff but they’ve obviously been successful. They may not have superior talent, but they play better as a team than most others because they know they can trust their teammates, they know they will get their chances, etc. We have created an environment of having fun and playing ball while keeping them competitive.

This is a long winded way of saying that at younger ages you can do it the right way while also winning, developing the kids and building their interest in the sport.

 

[Bonerfarts]

I signed my 1st grader up for flag football this year. He's expressed interest in the game, is very social, and loves to run around (he's done t-ball/coach pitch baseball and soccer as well).

We signed him up with 3 buddies from his school, and we got randomly assigned to a coach and some other kids. The coach runs downright impressive practices. There is no horsing around, and everything is exceptionally crisp for this age (not sure if this is a good thing or not).

Anyway, we had practice last Thursday night with our opening game on Saturday. He pulled the parents in and said, "I can guarantee that every kid will get in the game, but we are playing to win." You could have almost heard a pin drop, and then everybody dispersed.

Fast-forward to Saturday:

• Only 3 kids touch the ball (my son got a mop-up score as their team was up by 4 TD's)
• 3 kids got zero offensive snaps
• 1 kid exclusively played center/snapper
• Coach got irate when the other team scored their lone TD as they did not "set the edge for outside contain"

In short...I think any coach of kids this young who is "playing to win" and not simply playing every kid equally is completely warped. The goal of sports at this age should be introducing new skills, and hoping that the kids like football enough to sign up the next year.

By taking this "win at all costs" approach, I don't believe he is doing anything to further any kid's football career (will all come down to their God-given talent, what happens after they hit puberty, work ethic, etc.), but he might be destroying kids' interest in the game.

I'm not overly concerned about it for my son (he's somewhere in the middle in terms of ability and got plenty of playing time), but I think this could be a really ugly experience overall.

Am I seeing this properly?

Sounds like you need sign up to coach. I've coached quite a few teams over the years and it's easy criticize from a distance, the only solution I see is having the parents that criticize to sign up and do it themselves. With that said, every sport I've coached has three priorities. Have fun, get better, and win (in that order). It's a balance and not an easy one to make everyone happy.

 

[ICWestfan]

6U in any sport is like herding cats, a few "get it" but most just want to pick dandelions.

 

[hawkedoff]

Almost half the players in the NFL come from small towns. This idea that youth coaches and programs sell that you need better competition or coaching is largely bullshit sold to parents that have too many emotions tied up in their kids being athletes. Let me clue you in...it doesn't matter. It certainly can help to have a better coach but usually the better coach is more focused on culture first. Which means the players with the least ability like the guy. The loudmouth aren't it. If you really think the clubs that are winning is youth sports leads to greater success for their athletes take a glance at the turnover in their players from about age 14 through 17 for guys. Without even looking I can tell you that they don't keep the same kids from u6 to u17 and win all those state cups or regional tournaments. Those great youth coaches that win didn't usually develop their players all the way through like is being presented.

Anyone think that Kadyn Proctor is at Alabama because of the coaching he received anywhere?

 

[gojojo]

I will say, as a former youth sports coach, there were two things that irked me:

1) parents in the stands that complained about coaching, who plays where, how much time each kid gets, etc. If you want to see things run differently, there is always a shortage of parents volunteering their time to help, so sign up next year. Many of us who did never really planned on coaching we just saw the need and stepped up.

2) kids who came to practice with their own shiny batting helmet, batting gloves, 2 bats, and a very nice bat bag, but the kid has no clue how to catch a ball. Stop spending all your money, get yourself a glove and play catch with your kid for 10 minutes a day. No issue with kids that can't catch or hit, that is understandable as it's a very tough skill for an 8 year old to learn, but it's frustrating to see kids whose parents want to throw money at something rather than investing time. Your kid only needs a glove and maybe a pair of cleats, the league provides everything else. Go spend time with your child, the skills the child learns are far less valuable than the time that child sees you investing in them. They notice that more than anything.

 

[IowaHawkIT]

Our 16 year old works at the Y and refs flag football, along with the other sports. At the first game this year, he had a coach stop the game to question the spot of the ball after a first down. The other team's coach said it wasn't a big deal, let's keep going, and got met with an aggressive "I'm just trying to make sure we're not getting screwed here." It was 6 year olds playing.

 

[Bonerfarts]

Our 16 year old works at the Y and refs flag football, along with the other sports. At the first game this year, he had a coach stop the game to question the spot of the ball after a first down. The other team's coach said it wasn't a big deal, let's keep going, and got met with an aggressive "I'm just trying to make sure we're not getting screwed here." It was 6 year olds playing.

 

[hawkedoff]

I will say, as a former youth sports coach, there were two things that irked me:

1) parents in the stands that complained about coaching, who plays where, how much time each kid gets, etc. If you want to see things run differently, there is always a shortage of parents volunteering their time to help, so sign up next year. Many of us who did never really planned on coaching we just saw the need and stepped up.

2) kids who came to practice with their own shiny batting helmet, batting gloves, 2 bats, and a very nice bat bag, but the kid has no clue how to catch a ball. Stop spending all your money, get yourself a glove and play catch with your kid for 10 minutes a day. No issue with kids that can't catch or hit, that is understandable as it's a very tough skill for an 8 year old to learn, but it's frustrating to see kids whose parents want to throw money at something rather than investing time. Your kid only needs a glove and maybe a pair of cleats, the league provides everything else. Go spend time with your child, the skills the child learns are far less valuable than the time that child sees you investing in them. They notice that more than anything.

Weird flex on parents spending money when the primary problem in youth sports is club pay to play where the costs are ridiculous. The days where the vast majority of kids that play sports do so in local leagues is behind us. It's all.pay to play

 

[Nole-4-Life]

Setting the edge? In first grade?

Dude needs to chill out.

 

[gojojo]

Weird flex on parents spending money when the primary problem in youth sports is club pay to play where the costs are ridiculous. The days where the vast majority of kids that play sports do so in local leagues is behind us. It's all.pay to play

Huh...that wasn't my point at all.

I don't get spending all the extra money for unnecessary equipment for 8 year old rec league play when it would be much better just to spend 10 minutes a day playing catch with your son. A rec league coach who has your kid, and 11 other kids, isn't going to be able to teach him how to do it in his hour a week with him, without your help at home.

Not sure where the pay to play travel ball came from.

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

Yeah the coach's behavior seems over the top and excessive.

I'm not sure if I would want my kid to keep playing on that team. I mean if he's pissed off and yelling because his team of 6 year olds gave up a late TD on a game that they won by 4 TD's, what is he going to do if you kid turns over the football or something like that.

 

[HawkeyesAndCubs1023]

A couple of comments to add:

• One poster suggested that if I don't like it, I sign up to coach. I have 3 kids, and have decided that I will coach one sport per year, per kid. You don't want to be "that dad" who coaches everything.

• I've not been going around complaining, nor will I say anything to the guy this year. I would never quibble with a coach at this age who has limited knowledge, or ineffective strategy (we should all be thankful for volunteers as it is not an easy job). My concern was with an overall approach, and I wanted to check on this board with others who have older kids to see if my initial reaction was correct. 90%+ of the posters here think that the guy has warped priorities.

• On the drive home from practice yesterday, my son said (paraphrasing), "Coach says that the Cowboys (team we played last week) are really bad, and that we need to be a lot better this week so we can beat the Bears." I chuckled. We'll see how it goes on Saturday.